Airline Ticket Credit Fraud

Airline Tickets Credit Fraud: How It Works

(with video below) Crooks use stolen credit cards to purchase airline tickets and then cancel them, in order to get a flight credit and a confirmation number. A series of airlines worldwide make it pretty easy to pull this, especially Southwest Airlines.

After canceling, scam artists offer the funds online, on websites like Craigslist, Kijiji, Oodle or Gumtree. They explain they can't take the flights and will offer to transfer the funds for a discounted price.

They reveal the confirmation number so the victims really think everything it's legitimate. The purchasers are then required to transfer the money into an untraceable account, by wiring money through services like Western Union. When the victims try to redeem the tickets with their credit, they are told they can't because the initial tickets were bought with a stolen credit card. But that's not all.

Watch the video below below to see a different variation of the Airline Tickets Scam:

Airline Tickets Credit Fraud: How To Avoid

When you are buying any kind of tickets, make sure you purchase them through reputable sources. Don't buy them online, unless the sellers are local, so at least you are able to check the tickets physically and put a face to the transaction.

Don't believe what a stranger says just because they have good deal. You can also report the scam below.

Airline Tickets Credit Fraud: How To Report

Make your family and friends aware of the Airline Credit scam by sharing it on social media using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the scammers to the Federal Trade Commission using the link below:

If you want to be the first to find out the most notorious scams every week, feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter here. You'll receive periodical emails and we promise not to spam. Last but not least, use the Comments section below to expose other scammers.

Add Your Comment

Posted By: jamespaulll218

AIRLINE SCAM ALERT

Fake callers claiming to be airline representatives are on high alert scamming your money in pretext of canceling your flight booking. No AIRLINE/TRAVEL AGENCY can cancel your bookings unless you volunteer to cancel.

9th, May 2019

Posted By: Sreenath Reddy

This is another travel tickets Fraud.

I was looking for tickets to send my wife & kids to India for upcoming Summer Vacation, i requested a Quote from Sulekha.com where most of the Indians will look for the classifieds & look for travel Agency's who can book the tickets, I contacted by the Person Named Alpesh Patel, from Super Travel Deals Inc, based out in Savannah, GA, and company registered at 87 Redwall Cir, Savannah, GA - 31407, he sent me a email with t he quotes and he sent the quote of $804/Person on Singapore Airlines, i requested him to block the Tickets, he also made a mention that they will buy the ticket using there corporate Credit card and once the tickets are confirmed you can pay us, finally after 2 days he confirmed the tickets, as every airline has 24 hours cancellation policy i wanted to wait for 24hours before paying him, still i dic not pay him till 78 Hours as i had a benefit of doubt, i searched the Corporation & as it was incorporated in State of Atlanta, i thought the the business is Legit, i provided my debit card details to him for paying to the tickets, he called me back asking for My ID proof & Card Statement, i refused, he also sent his bank account details for me to deposit the account here are the bank details.
Name on Account :Super Travel Deals, Inc.
Address : 87 REDWALL CIR, SAVANNAH, GA 31407
A/c No. 483066700851
Routing No. 021000322
Bank of America

Banks don't open the account if there is no incorporation documents provided, i thought it was legit, how ever i still did not transfer the amount to his bank account as if something goes bad i cannot revert it back as it will be authorised by me, he also suggested to transfer me thru Xoom.com, i still refused to do so and made it clear and told him he has only 1 option to debit from Debit card, how ever he waited till the PST midnight on 01/22 and initiated a Xoom transaction creating fake profile as Xoom can clear transfer in 4 hours, how ever i wanted to see what is going on the account, the xoom transaction was recorded & at the same time Flight ticket was also cancelled, when i called Luftansa they told that the ticket was booked via Stolen credit card & hence the tickets were cancelled, when i try talking to Mr Alpesh Patel, he told me he will look in to it and issue new tickets with Airlines with in an hour, he did not respond to me yet.

I have called bank and raised a dispute & called Xoom to investigate the transaction, the charges will be reversed, how ever it is travel time combing in summer many people will be flying to India for summer and if any one do business with this company they will lose money. also please Investigate and take appropriate action on this company i have collected all the proofs during the period of time with this company & the person i can provide all the details to Law Enforcement Agency.

24th, January 2019

Posted By: Anonymous

Never ever book your flights with www.superairticket.com they are a big scam. They booked tickets through QATAR airlines using some other credit cards with different transactions and they sent different ETicket's for each and asking me to pay or transfer the amount to there account. They took my credit card details and tried to get cash back from my card, but there a minimum cash back limit and then asked me to provide different credit card having more cash back amount I said no, then they asked me transfer total paid amount to their account. Luckily I spoke with QATAR airlines about this Iternary they have added my email address to that Iternaries and later 1 hour airlines sent an email saying that 2 of the transaction need credit card verification. Luckily I was on that email (CCed). If I transfer my tickets amounts to their account based on the QATARS airlines email if the agent is not going to provide the credit card verification documents to QATAR they going to cancel the tickets in 48 hours and agent will get the refund to their credit cards after the cancellation.
Once Airlines requested the proof he cancelled all the tickets. After seeing email when I called airlines they said its already cancelled, and they got back all the refunds to their credit cards. Luckily I didn't pay anything, but I lost the data. please be aware friend this is very big scam happening with this travel agencies and they blaming and asking me to pay off all the amount and started threatening me like class1 felony and theft case and criminal changes against me and million dollars as a separate civil suit(sue) too, on top of that he threaten me saying that I will be prison with changes of Felony and theft. He did fraud and blaming others and trying to get money with this threatening ideas . Friend be aware of this scam.

10th, January 2019

Posted By: Mohammad

I was duped after buying tickets on saudi airlies which has a very good reservation system. Somebody bought three more tickets immidiately after my transcation.
Investigation is on but Saudia must look into its security system to prevent this from happening again.

26th, July 2018

Posted By: kiyhasa

https://sa.via.com this FRAUD website is being promoted by https://www.skyscanner.net - it keeps showing the lowest rates for tickets and receives payment --- just after the payment is gone his rep vinod.a@via.com sends out immediate email that seats are not available so your ticket is not confirmed -- dont know how to inform the concerned authority about this ON Going Fraud with Customers by this Fake Company

2nd, July 2018

Posted By: lau

https://flightsticketgo.com scam site please share awareness!

30th, December 2017

Posted By: Muhammad kamran

flightsticketgo.com also have two step payment means two payments

24th, November 2017

Posted By: bookie

Never ever book your flights with https://www.airlinesticketcorp.com they are a big scam. They have 2 step process of booking. The charges that pop up in the first search is not the actual one. They will charge you again for issuing the ticket which then turns out to be very huge amount. They never respond to mails or chats and don't refund your cash either.
Moreover they never tell you in which country they are based in.

20th, August 2017

Posted By: TWINOMUHWEZI BRIAN BRONNIE

vvp

11th, May 2017

Posted By: naommy

I want to report Air Travel,Benson Morrison as a sales agent ticket fraudster.I am having too much stress because I bought a ticket through the company now they are demanding for more money before my issuing my ticket

27th, April 2017

Posted By: Marci Huebert

I received a call from and unknown and undetectable location, I was told that this person was with Southwest Airlines, and due to a promotion I had won 2 free tickets anywhere in the US good for 1 year. I would have to set up a time to pick these ticket up at. There was to be no charge, and no credit card information was requested, only if I had a MC or Visa. I was then told that in the next 15 min someone would be calling me back to go over this offer with me. I was unable to get the person on the other line to give me his phone number, he seemed to have had all of my information. And due to not being able to completely understand him due to his accent, I did not get his name. I was transferred to another man who's name I did not understand either.
I did not agree or approve any flight or ticket purchases for Southwest Airlines to be used in the next 365 days. There was also a $100 food voucher that was to come along with this. I will be contacting my bank after this is sent to make sure that who ever called did not hack into my computer and get my information so how. I just wanted you to be aware of this.

1st, February 2017

Posted By: Indunil

This is about Etihad Airline Scamming by the Etihad company #Etihad. I purchased a ticket worth about $1700 and asked for a refund for the return ticket. The ticket was indeed refundable with a cancellation. penalty of about $160. The company refunded me less than $20 for the ticket worth $1700. I tried so many times contacting the customer care with no successful respond. This is indeed scamming and DO NOT FLY ON ETIHAD #DONOTFLYETIHAD if you are willing to cancel your ticket.

They actually got away with taking my money and closing the account before my bank could do anything. They completely avoided my emails and calls and are still scamming people! They seem like a very legit company but I know better now.

It's crazy how these people can get away with it and it seems no one gives a shit.

26th, October 2016

Posted By: Rebecca Hollis

Booking Master - two guys called AJ and Charlie. Southerners. You book through email, instagram and WhatsApp. They are complete scammer. W`e paid them for 5 flight to America and only got 3 as the other two flights, the card go declined. We just font out when we went to check in. The guys are horrible too and have thrown abuse saying it must be something my company did. Please beware OF BOOKING MASTER as they are not legitimate and a total scam. Had me fooled.

3rd, August 2016

Posted By: MARIE

I want to report a cc scam on an flight going from Atlanta to san francisco on April 9th in which I am not this person. The person who used my cc the name is Madise Jvon. the flight number was JD1L6B. they used my cc without my permission. my cc# at that time was 4147202126751831. and the conf# on my cc was 0162486295284. I would like to have this person stopped now or she or he will continue to us other cc. I have advised my cc company on this and will be watching out for further scams on my account. In the meantime I will be issued a new card.

18th, April 2016

Posted By: Jimbo

Watch out for airline money conversion fraud.
In Mexico AA charged $400.00 for reservation change, which was also a possible fraud, and I insisted the amount in Pecos was much more than $400.00 USD. (three times) they kept telling the charge was in Pecos. When I got home I checked my credit card and sure nuf it was $470.00. Watch out.

30th, September 2015

Posted By: ben chidysiku

www.tickethouse.co.uk is a scam

16th, September 2015

Posted By: raju

"myflightoindia" is also a fraud website , I am facing the issue , they got the amount charged to the card and no communication there after and no tickets at all, want to report to a fraud detecting agency or arganization to take necessary actions on this website

28th, August 2015

Posted By: Chely

Has anyone booked with a company named The Flight Fairs?

My brother booked two flights with them, had to cancel, now I'm calling to get to make new reservations and they either don't answer or cannot locate my reservation #

25th, June 2015

Posted By: ilan

Warning - www.buy-cheapflight.com is a SCAM

As well as similar web sites as described in TRIPADVISOR
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k7328000-Warning_www_air_cheapflights_com_is_a_SCAM-Air_Travel.html
And I would like to add -
Tips - ( before you pay )
1) Try to call the phone numbers that appears on their web site (…no answer). And check if the country phone code fits the stated office address.
2) An offer that is 30% discount from the average price on the web, and a site name including the word "cheap", is always suspicious (they frequently keep changing the web site name, usually with the word "cheap" included).

17th, June 2015

Posted By: luis campos

buy-cheapflight.com

Not answering email, not answering phones, booking not recognised by the airlines.

Nice looking page with all the info just like Orbitz or Kayak or all the other major booking pages. Fishy tho their credit card wasn't accepting international visas (still, some pages do have that problem)

Got screwed, had to book on diferent pages to get new tickets and got scammed for a 1400 us ticket reservation

26th, May 2015

Posted By: Andrew Bognar

I was also scammed by Aircheapflights, last year 2014 11.10 15:39:31 This outfitt still in bussiness? Nobody can do nothing to arrest them? What a shame!!!!

25th, May 2015

Posted By: eddy

I bought a ticket from my dad for mothers day to go to the Dominican Republic so he can see his mother..i actually saw this guy on Craigslist saying he can get you ticket with a good discount becauae he works for the airline (i thought it was possible)..i met with the guy i gave him my dad info and he show me in person the reservation everything was comfirm. .i even call the airline and they said my dad was good to go...well 6 days later i call back the airline and they said that ticket was cancelled and they didn't sound nice about it they kind of notice they used someone else credit card without that person permission (i was ripped off )but what im more concern is that my dad dont get in trouble because his name is in the system..i hope he dont get a black mark or get into any trouble in the airport qhen flying with a good ticket. .hope the law take into consideration that those people flying are just the victims. ..plus i havent tell my dad anything about it i feel like a idiot cant believe it happened to me lol..oh well all my friends hope we learn a lesson by reading or by going through that experience. .i just want to cooperate with the authority and try to catch thia guy..

21st, May 2015

Posted By: E/Gal

Are "BUY-CHEAPFLIGHT" from Turkey -the same?

Please do help us by return!! THANKS!!

Gal

galeliezer@gmail.com

17th, May 2015

Posted By: Steve Harakeh

Dear Madam/ Sir,
I booked a ticket online and after paying I did not receive the ticket. The email is no longer working and I am not able to send them emails. I checked with Saudi airlines and they have no booking for me. Their phones they gave are not working. It rings one time and stops. Please help me get my money back and arrest those involved. Thanks for your help.
Steve

Mail Delivery Subsystem
9:46 AM (10 hours ago)

to me

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

info@airscheapflight.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
DNS Error: Address resolution of airscheapflight.com. failed: Domain name not found

Dear Madam/ Sir,
I booked a ticket online and after paying I did not receive the ticket. The email is no longer working and I am not able to send them emails. I checked with Saudi airlines and they have no booking for me. Their phones they gave are not working. It rings one time and stops. Please help me get my money back and arrest those involved. Thanks for your help.
Steve

Mail Delivery Subsystem
9:46 AM (10 hours ago)

to me

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

info@airscheapflight.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
DNS Error: Address resolution of airscheapflight.com. failed: Domain name not found

Air Company: Order Date: Saudi Arabian Airlines 17/03/15 STEVE HARAKEH AirTicket: PASSENGER NAME: GENDER: DATE OF BIRTH: Steve Harakeh MALE 05/04/1954 ETICKET NUMBER: VERIFICATION: 3276784430257 AIRLINE REFERENCE 102046 Important You will need this document for checkin, customs, airport security, immigration, and duty free purchases +40 373 780 603 (Riga, Latvia), +36 21 252 6296 info@airscheapflight.com All services are provided by Mahir Uslu Travel: flight information, fares and offers are obtained through FAS Travel Group software. Page 1 of 4 Flight Details Departure 1 - Arrival 1 Flight Details 04 Jun 2015 TIME & DATE: 14:55 Jun 04 AIRPORT & CITY: Jeddah, Jeddah 17:30 Jun 04 Beirut, Beirut FLIGHT #: SV-641 PLANE: Airbus A330 DURATION: 02h 35m Departure 2 - Arrival 2 Flight Details 08 Aug 2015 TIME & DATE: 19:15 Aug 08 AIRPORT & CITY: Beirut, Beirut 21:45 Aug 08 Jeddah, Jeddah FLIGHT #: SV-642 PLANE: Airbus A330 DURATION: 02h 30m +40 373 780 603 (Riga, Latvia), +36 21 252 6296 info@airscheapflight.com All services are provided by Mahir Uslu Travel: flight information, fares and offers are obtained through FAS Travel Group software. Passengers Total Ticket Price: Comfort Class: Trip Time: Adults: 1 Kids: 0 Infants: 0 $317.00 (all fees & taxes are included) Economy 5 h 5 m Page 2 of 4 Flight Booking Terms & Conditions IMPORTANT NOTE: All Tickets will be automatically issued by our booking software, if you do not receive an email with ticket number information, please contact us to get the ticket numbers. Please contact us immediately if you need to change or cancel your trip. SAS Scandinavian Airlines does not charge you anything for trip modification or cancellation, but most air companies will request a one time fee for change/cancellation. Please contact us for more information. NOTE: If it is a third party credit card, you may receive a phone call and email from our customer service department asking to verify this transaction before the tickets can be issued. A Third party credit card is when the Traveler is not the Card Holder. Advice to Travelers To receive our emails in your inbox and not in your spam box, please add this email in your address book info@airscheapflight.com Domestic USA flights (50 United States): Re-confirm flight schedules, departure times, seats, and any special requests 24 hours prior to departure in all directions. Recommended check-in time is at least 2 hours prior to flight departure. International Flights: Re-confirm flight schedules, departure times, seats, and any special requests 72 hours prior to departure in all directions. Recommended check-in time is at least 3 hours prior to departure time. SPECIAL NOTE: The airline reserves the right to deny boarding to passengers that do not check-in or arrive at the departure gate in adequate time. Please check with the airline for times. Also, certain cities vary for check-in times as well. Should the airline deny boarding, in such a case, no compensation will be awarded by the airline. +40 373 780 603 (Riga, Latvia), +36 21 252 6296 info@airscheapflight.com All services are provided by Mahir Uslu Travel: flight information, fares and offers are obtained through FAS Travel Group software. Page 3 of 4 Please either visit the airline website or contact the airline by telephone for reconfirmation and check-in rules: Airline Phone Numbers Code-share Partners - Please review your flight information on your itinerary for any code-share flights. It is a good idea when reconfirming your flight, be sure ask about where to check in at to ensure you arrive at the correct departure gate. For example - Your itinerary may indicate a British Airlines flight #, but the flight may be operated by American Airlines, so you will need to appear at the American Airlines departure gate. This too must be confirmed by the airline. Travel Documents: Passports: Please have valid passport for each passenger with open pages prior to departure. Most countries also require that your passport be valid for 6 months beyond your final trip date. Visa: Passengers are responsible for any Entry/Transit Visa requirements to all countries in your itinerary. This means your connection airport may require a transit Visa for the change of planes in that country. It is your responsibility to review your itinerary carefully for such airport changes and other flight details. Health Documents: Select countries require health documents prior to entry. Please check with each country you are visiting or traveling through to ensure you have the proper vaccinations and any required health documents prior to departure. TICKET ISSUANCE When the reservation information remains the same the ticket will be issued. At the time of ticketing you are bound by the rules, regulations and restrictions of the purchased ticket(s). Most airlines require electronic tickets. In some cases electronic tickets cannot be issued per the reservation or airline; at this time a paper ticket will be issued and a shipping fee will be charged. Changes: Most tickets are subject to penalties and fare differential for changing/cancellation based on whether the change will be for dates and/or routing. In order to determine the total applicable fees, you must provide us with new dates and/or routing. There may be fare differential as well as Airlines‘ and our fees that apply in order to process changes to your itinerary. For assistance you may contact us by either phone or email. We do not guarantee final processing of any changes as they are subject to many factors beyond our control such as fare and seat availability and other factors. Thank you very much for selecting our company as your air ticket providor We wish you a pleasant flight! +40 373 780 603 (Riga, Latvia), +36 21 252 6296 info@airscheapflight.com All services are provided by Mahir Uslu Travel: flight information, fares and offers are obtained through FAS Travel Group software. Page 4 of 4

Dear Customer,

Unfortunately, there is no other way to pay us except through bank transfer or western union at the moment. So, please process your payment either way via western union or bank transfer and we can give you further 5% discount on the total payable amount. Please advise?

We have sent you the e-ticket to your email. Please check and let's know that you have received it.

Your e-ticket will be fully activated once you're done sending us the payment.

We will verify your payment information and provide you with your eTickets after your payment is processed. We will email you once your eTickets are ready. You can also check your eTicket status on the Trip Information page.

Everything seems fine with the payment. Bank transfer normally takes 2-5 business days. Please be patient as you will be getting an automated response from our accounts department as soon as they receive the payment of yours. And, your e-ticket will be activated thereafter.

Thanks!

28th, March 2015

Posted By: Jeanette

I was also scammed by Aircheapflights, which I think change their name often. They said their credit card and paypal was not available at the moment and asked me to send a bank transfer, that they would send me the tickets first, which they did, and activate them when they received the money. They got the money and of course the tickets and their website are all fraudulent. I transferred the money to a bank in Turkey.

21st, March 2015

Posted By: Nancy

After filling out a form online giving the dates and airports, we received an offer from info@discount-flights.eu for a very cheap round-trip to the USA. They pre-paid the tickets, sent the confirmation numbers that we were able to verify on the American Airlines website. However, they wanted payment through Western Union, promising another reduction if we paid that way. After checking scam techniques and the Western Union website warnings we have cancelled and not lost any money.

20th, January 2015

Posted By: Mark Mather

I went through Fare compare, I have used this before and found them a trust worthy site giving options of different agents. Last night i selected a the flight i wanted through Sky-scanner, the agent turned out to be Via.com. I booked the flight, after the transaction was complete i got an email saying they suspect my card has been misused and they wanted a copy of the front of my card and a copy of my ID, it also stated they couldn't book the ticket and the ticket was subject to rise until they got this information. I off course didn't like the sound of this at all so immediately called the number they provided. They gave me the same story, thus i cancelled the ticket. I also tried calling my bank in NZ to cancel payment, to late it turns out payment was already made. I called Via back, not very happy at this stage at all. All they would say, is your money is being refunded as per bank policy. BEWARE OF VIA.COM

10th, January 2015

Posted By: H Mendoza

Avoid TravelBuddy247.com they will book cheap travel for you and in a matter of two weeks you will be double billed for your travel. The first charge that will appear on your credit card will be from ELLASTVSHOP for the full amount of your travel, the second charge will show up a few weeks later, again for the full amount, this time from TravelBuddy247.com
Good luck getting your money back.

7th, October 2014

Posted By: Aleksandra M

Where we should report a airline ticket spam? I was also fulled by www.flightcheapair.com
This froud was made in April 2014 with 2 airplane tickets that costed me 3500 USD. The money that they ask us to send were in Bratislava and the company itself as per their description is in Poland, and they have also in Istanbul.
Is there any chance of those people to be catch and any way to return our money back someday some how????

22nd, September 2014

Posted By: Miri, Choe

I found this website during searching for flight ticket fraud.
www.flightscheap-air.com
I reserved a ticket through that website.
I should've felt it is weird when they talked me that their credit card system is broken, so I needed to transfer the moeny for ticket price.
I was blind because of that cheap cheap cheap price.
Anyway, they have a contact number start from +48 (country code for calling) and it says it is number for office in Beriln, Germany.
However, the country code for Germany is 49, not 48.
and number for office in Istanbul start from weird country code again. ha.

Is there nothing I can do?

3rd, September 2014

Posted By: Dale

I was just scammed by a website Cheapflight-air.com for over £500 that I was instructed to send Western Union to an accountant in the UK.. How I fell for that is unnerving.. The website, ticket confirmation and all correspondence seemed so legitimate until they receive the funds.. Then all contact is lost..

9th, July 2014

Posted By: ANNA CERNA

I purchased my ticket online with booking airefare on friday 26 of june so when i was done it said pending I called and the guy told me it was just in case I changed within the next 24 hours so i thought it was ok he said on sunday you should geta eticket. so sunday is here we get a email that the ticket is now 230.00 more than what we got it for on line. is there anything we can do?

29th, June 2014

Posted By: shellaca

Renny

That is a scam, HIV tests can be done free in nigeria. Hope you did not send her the money.

4th, March 2014

Posted By: RENNY

IVE BEEN TALKING TO THIS GIRL ON LINE SHE WANTS TO COME AND LIVE WITH ME IN VEGAS SHE SHOWED ME A FLGHT TICKET WITH THE CONFIRMATION AND CLAIMS TO BE TRUTH BUT SHE NEEDS 450$ SO SHE CAN TAKE A HIV TEST BECAUSE NIGERIA REQUIRES IT BEFORE LEAVING THE COUNTRY PLEASE HELP

12th, December 2013

Posted By: Dee Mefford

How can an airline DELTA not sell the same flights as Travelocity or Expedia.
When I contacted DELTA they have not record of the Delta flight I was wanting to purchase from DELTA.
Dec 23- 2013
Delta fligh # 365 from ALT to Mexico City
Aero Mex flight # 1244 on Dec 23

Week May 23-29, 2019

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